Check here who are the most talked about athletes on the planet that marked 2013 year, and will potentially conquer the 2014 year in sports.
2013 was a great year which marked an awesome year in sports. We witnessed the first British player after 76 years to win Wimbledon, Bayern Munich won a Champions League after dominating the whole Europe, Miami Heat won the NBA title and Real Madrid made new transfer record by signing Gareth Bale for 100 million euros. There were also few more negative, but very notable sports stories, like the one with Lance Armstrong’s doping scandal and Oscar Pistorius’ trial. Here is the list of the top 10 famous athletes of 2014, which will most probably mark this year:
10. Rory Mcilroy
This Northern Irish golfer who is only 23 years old really marked this year in golf. After he became the youngest player ever to reach a staggering amount of $10 million of career earnings from PGA Tour, he also won various highly reputable tournaments. He is still regarded as one of the hottest young golf prospects, even though he is already at the top of the world with Tiger Woods. This year he successfully won USA Open, which is currently one of his biggest achievements in his career.
9. Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel, currently the best Formula 1 driver in the world, has really owned this year in Formula 1. He is current World Champion, after he unbelievably won championships in last 4 years. There are simply no signs on why he should not win it this year also, since he is a standard above everyone else currently in Formula 1. Even though he is only 25 years old, he is even now regarded as one of the most successful and mostdominant F1 racing car driver of all time. He also broke many records this year, and one of them is about him being youngest driver that ever won 4 championships in a row.
8. Tim Tebow
Tim Tebow is currently one of the most famous athletes in USA and is widely regarded as the best American football player currently. He had a very successful 2013 year with New England, and he is currently a free agent looking for a new team. It is no doubt that no matter what team gets him in 2014, he will be the biggest improvement to their team, since this quarterback’s ability is just astounding. He is only 26 years old, so he still has a lot to improve, especially his passing efficiency.
7. Novak Djokovic
This great Serbian player who is currently number 2 on ATP ranking, after Rafa Nadal finally surpassed him after a years of dominance had a great 2013 year, and it is fully expected that he and Rafa will fight for the first place in the 2014 year. Season has just began and just for a couple of weeks we will witness Australian Open, where all eyes will be on two players, Djokovic and Rafa Nadal. Djokovic had a very successful season in 2013 since he won last year’s Australian Open and final ATP Masters Tournament.
6. Kobe Bryant
Yes, we are all aware that Kobe Bryant did not have a great 2013 year, since he spent majority of the year being heavily injured. But, it is worth to take notice that this LA Lakers player will be back in just a few weeks, and he is still expected to be the 2nd or 3rd best player in the NBA for 2014 year. Who knows, maybe he can even lead LA Lakers to finally regain their title of NBA Champions that they have not won for many years now.
5. Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal, currently number 1 ranked tennis player in the world, really had an astonishing and remarkable 2013. After he had a tough series of injuries in past 2 years, he finally managed to regain his form, and even managed to get back at the first spot on ATP ranking, which was pretty astounding when we consider that he was injured for more than 8 months. 2013 was simply Rafa’s year, since he won Us Open and Roland Garros and we will most certainly see him on the top in 2014 where we will see clash between him and Djokovic fighting for first position. This why Rafa is on number 5 spot of most famous athletes of 2014.
4. Usain Bolt
The fastest man alive is still expected to lead 2014 with being a number 1 sprinter on the world. Usain was still on top of his form in 2013 and still managed to be crowned as world champion while beating Justin Gaitlin in 100m in Moscow by outrunning him for more than 0.1 second. Some would say the he is the most naturally gifted athlete in the world, and they may be right. It is rare to see someone that great and dominating as Usain currently is, by outsprinting every single person year by year. Even though Olympic games in Rio are for only 2 years, he is still expected to be the main favorite to win both 100m and 200m races on that event.
3. Lebron James
Many people don’t like him for various reasons, but you cannot take away the fact that he is currently the greatest basketball player in the world. While being 29 years old, he won his second Championship ring since he won NBA title with Miami Heat this year and is currently the only player that is being compared to great Michael Jordan. It is hard to think of that something can stop Lebron from his great current form, and Miami Heat are still the biggest favorite to win NBA Championship once again this year.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
One of the best football players of the world, Cristiano Ronaldo really achieved many things in the 2013 year. Even though he didn’t won La Liga or Champions League, he still managed to outperform everyone in the world by scoring most goals in 2013 calendar year. He is only 28 years old, and he is fully expected to win Ballon d’Or this year as being the most valuable player.
1. Lionel Messi
And, on number 1 spot we have to go with Lionel Messi. This great Argentinian magician is still regarded as the best player on the world, even though Ronaldo arguably outperformed him in this calendar year. But, Lionel had a major injury which kept him from football pitch for over 3 months, and he will finally be back in February of 2014 to start once again owning European football. He will is most certainly one of the most famous athletes of 2014.
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